Brazil's Rousseff gains time to avert impeachment

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff gains time to block opposition impeachment attempts after the Supreme Court grants an injunction to a congressional vote. Julie Noce reports.

▲ Hide Transcript

▶ View Transcript

A ruling by the Brazilian Supreme Court gives President Dilma Rousseff more time to muster congressional votes to block efforts to impeach her on charges of manipulating government accounts. Opposition parties were trying to force a vote in the lower house that could have opened proceedings to impeach the president as early as this week. But Rousseff's party asked for an injunction on that vote- and on Tuesday- the Supreme Court granted it. The speaker of the lower house said he would continue to review impeachment requests despite the injunction. Rousseff's camp think the speaker might be trying to speed up the impeachment process because he's under pressure to resign in connection with a corruption scandal. A spokesperson for Rousseff called on congress not to harm the Brazilian people by playing politics. "We can't allow the country to go into paralysis because of a political determination defending the impeachment process," he said. Brazil's worst recession in 25 years and a major corruption scandal at the state-run oil company Petrobras have pushed Rousseff's approval ratings into single digits.

French President Emmanuel Macron heads into the summer break faced with falling popularity ratings after tough debates in parliament over labour reform and a public ethics law, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: